Dr. Analía Albuja, Principal Investigator
Dr. Analía Albuja is a Science Fellow and will be an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University beginning in Fall 2023. Her research explores how belonging to multiple ingroups shifts people’s own identity experiences and perceptions, with implications for well-being. In one line of research from the target’s perspective, she focuses on bicultural and biracial samples to examine 1) the various ways people’s multiple identities are challenged by others, 2) the psychological and physical health correlates of these challenges, and 3) the generalizability of these challenges across contexts. In a second line of research from the perceiver’s perspective, she uses a social cognitive lens to examine how people perceive and respond to others’ multiple identities.
Dr. Albuja earned her BS in Psychology at Truman State University, and her PhD in Social Psychology at Rutgers University. She completed a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University.
Email: a.albuja@northeastern.edu
Dr. Jessica Glazier, Postdoctoral Research Associate
Jessica Glazier received a B.A. in psychology and music from Albion College and earned a Ph.D. in social and developmental psychology from the University of Washington where Jessica worked with Drs. Kristina Olson and Cheryl Kaiser. Jessica’s work, combining methods from developmental and social psychology, focuses on how people of all ages use and think about social categories (e.g., women, Multiracial people, etc.) in relation to both their own and other’s identities. In particular, Jessica focuses on social categorization in diverse contexts inclusive of identities often left out of research, such as people of varying racial, gender, and sexual identities.
Email: j.glazier@northeastern.edu
Sabrina Piccolo, Graduate Student
Sabrina Piccolo (she/her) is a first-year PhD student studying social psychology. She is particularly interested in understanding how people frame-switch between their different identities, especially racial and cultural identities, and how this is perceived by others. Sabrina grew up in Nagoya, Japan and moved to Eugene, Oregon, where she received her associate degree from Lane Community College and then her BA in Linguistics and Spanish at the University of Oregon. At the UO, she studied the effects of how we perceive people’s accents on how we perceive people’s character traits, such as confidence and professionalism. After obtaining her BA, Sabrina moved to Massachusetts, where she worked as a research assistant at the Saxe Lab, a social cognitive neuroscience lab at MIT. There is where she was introduced to social psychology as a field where she could study how people perceive the world around them and the people in it.
Email: piccolo.s@northeastern.edu
Elle Wilson, Research Assistant
Elle Wilson (she/her) is an undergraduate student at Northeastern University as a candidate for a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Asian Studies to graduate in May 2024. Currently interested in social psychology and counseling as well as pursuing further education.
wilson.elle@northeastern.edu
Ava Clifford, Research Assistant
Ava (she/her) is a third year undergraduate student at Northeastern University from Pennsylvania. She is pursuing a bachelor’s in Behavioral Neuroscience and a minor in Global Asian Studies. She previously worked as a research assistant at Boston Medical Center’s RESTORE Center and the Social Emotions Lab at Northeastern. She is interested in studying people’s perception of multiracial identities and the impact of stigma on mental health. In her free time, Ava enjoys running, reading, and trying restaurants around Boston!
Email: clifford.a@northeastern.edu
Amelia Chu, Research Assistant
Amelia is a current second year at Northeastern she loves to learn about people. In her free time she enjoys art, talking long walks, music, and reading.
Email: chu.am@northeastern.edu
Jade Gjermundsen, Lab Manager
Jade is a 2nd year undergraduate student at Northeastern University from Virginia. She is pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science and Cognitive Psychology and is particularly interested in perception and awareness, as well as artificial intelligence.
Email: gjermundsen.j@northeastern.edu
Alumni
Natalie DeLaCruz, Research Assistant
Natalie DeLaCruz (she/they) is a third-year undergraduate student at Northeastern University from West Hartford, CT. Natalie is pursuing a B.A. in Political Science & Human Services with a Spanish minor. They are particularly passionate about researching multiracial identity and serve as the Student Government Association’s V.P. of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion!
Patricio Reyes Gomez, Lab Manager
Pato Reyes Gomez (he/him) is an undergraduate student at Northeastern University from Monterrey, Mexico (pictured left). He is currently a candidate for a B.S. in Psychology and Math with a minor in Data Science due to graduate in May 2024. Pato’s interested in behavioral sciences like decision theory, as well as data analysis. He is on the Northeastern club soccer and club golf teams, and recently traveled around Asia for a month!
Sophia Castillo, Lab Manager
Sophia Castillo (She/They) is a graduate student at Northeastern University earning an M.S. in Criminology and Criminal Justice and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She received a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Spanish from Boston University in 2020. During her undergraduate studies, she researched positive psychology and borderline personality disorder at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders. Since starting at Northeastern, she has worked on a variety of projects related to bias victimization at the Violence and Justice Research Lab. Sophia is specifically interested in what factors cause individuals to commit acts of violence and discrimination against others based upon their racial, ethnic, gender, or sexual identities. As the BASIL’s Lab Manager, she is currently studying individuals’ perceptions of their own and others’ racial and ethnic identities, specifically how individuals categorize Latinx identity.
Ezgi Uygan, Research Assistant
Ezgi Uygan is a 4th year Psychology major with a Marketing minor from New York. She is interested in cross-cultural, social psychology, and cognition. Ezgi’s hobbies include singing/playing music, skiing, and traveling.